ABSTRACT
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) will be performed in more than 700,000 patients in the United States this year, exceeding the number of coronary artery bypass graft (CABO) surgeries. PCI will be primarily undertaken for the relief of ischemia in patients with atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. A number of methods are currently used for PCI, including balloon angioplasty, rotational and directional atherectomy, and coronary stenting. Coronary stenting is most commonly (60 to 80%) used and is the preferred form of therapy in patients with native vessels or saphenous vein grafts (SVG) more than 2.75 mm in diameter.
